"I"ve deposited some money into your bank account." (Kim Hahn-Nah)
Just as they arrived near the transfer gate, Kim Hahn-Nah told Seol Ji-Hu.
He had been dazedly looking at the ma.s.sive oval-shaped portal and was caught off-guard. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Money? But, I haven"t…." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"It"s not the contract signing fee. You"ll only get that after signing the contract, of course." (Kim Hahn-Nah)
Kim Hahn-Nah cut him off before he went any further.
"Just think of it as a small gift from me saying thanks. I"ll be able to move around a bit easier now all thanks to you." (Kim Hahn-Nah)
"Uh, sure…. But, is it okay for me to receive this money?" (Seol Ji-Hu)
"Of course. This is the reward that you totally deserve, so don"t sweat it and spend as you like." (Kim Hahn-Nah)
"Uhm, thanks." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"What do you mean, thanks? I should be the one thanking you. Anyways, go confirm it once you arrive on the other side. I"ve taken only a little bit out of my own allowance, so don"t get your hopes up too much. In any case, there are things you gotta take care of first, am I right?" (Kim Hahn-Nah)
She was right about that. Not only did he have financial debt to pay for, there were so many other forms of debt he had to clear up, too.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"Okay. You can spend it in any shape or form you want, but put out the urgent fires first, okay? Not on useless stuff. Making sure that there won"t be any trouble back on Earth is one of the tenets the Earthlings must adhere to." (Kim Hahn-Nah)
Seol Ji-Hu stood before the gate. The blue-coloured substance gently waving in front of him emitted a blindingly arresting light.
"It should be around the middle of April when you return. I"ll spend another day here before going back to Earth. I"ll give you a call in… about eight hours later in the Earth time." (Kim Hahn-Nah)
Seol Ji-Hu"s attention was focused solely on the portal in front of him, and he could just barely nod his head to show he had heard her, before he cautiously stepped forward to enter. Almost right away, the back of his left hand began emitting bright light, and then, an even brighter light, powerful enough to blind the onlookers, swallowed him.
As the youth was gradually enveloped by the brilliant light, Kim Hahn-Nah shouted out while waving her hand.
"You better answer my call, okay? If you don"t, I"m gonna march straight to your home! Seol Ji-Hu!" (Kim Hahn-Nah)
As the sensation of being sucked in took over, Seol Ji-Hu closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes, he could see the familiar sight of his rented room.
He was inwardly worried whether he could really come back home, and that he"d not end up in some weird destination instead, but the end result was a resounding success. Seol Ji-Hu didn"t know who that man was, but that guy definitely did calculate the coordinates accurately.
His relief lasted only for a brief moment, however. Seol Ji-Hu frowned deeply and covered his nose. A seriously foul stench suddenly a.s.saulted his senses, that was why. When he swept his gaze around, he couldn"t help let out a shocked gasp. This place was an utter mess.
He opened the windows to let the fresh air in. Seol Ji-Hu took a deep breath and wordlessly studied the streets outside. He spotted college students giggling and talking among themselves as they walked, a taxi slowly driving down the hill….
‘I"m back."
He could more or less appreciate the fact that he was back on Earth for real.
‘What time is it?"
Seol Ji-Hu instinctively rummaged through his pockets only to realise that his phone was nowhere to be found.
"….Ah."
He remembered that the mobile phone was one of the items prohibited from entering the Paradise. Which meant that it had been left behind in front of Yu Seon-Hwah"s place a month ago. He probably left his bank card there as well.
Thinking of confirming the time, Seol Ji-Hu had no choice but to switch his old laptop on. It was thickly coated with dust, but thankfully, it turned on without a problem.
17th April, Monday
09:14:07 AM
‘I was summoned on the 16th of March…."
It seemed that the time difference between the Earth and the Paradise being around 1 to 3 was correct. Now that he confirmed the time, Seol fell into a slight dilemma.
‘What should I do now?"
It wasn"t that he had nothing to do, but he had way too many things to do, instead.
There was a reason why Kim Hahn-Nah told him to come back to Earth. She demanded that he made sure accessing the Paradise from Earth would be a trouble-free affair moving on. If he was reported as missing for some reason, then there would be a lot of headaches for everyone involved.
In that regard, one could say that Seol Ji-Hu was already able to move around quite freely. Unless he was the one contacting them first, his family or Yu Seon-Hwah would never call him on their own volition. They hadn"t called him in the last few years, after all. Even his close friends stopped talking to him a long time ago.
‘….Wait, that"s not something to be happy about, is it."
He needed to right all the wrongs he committed, one by one. And in order to do so, he needed money. He could now understand why Kim Hahn-Nah left him with some cash.
‘Okay, firstly…."
Seol Ji-Hu connected to the internet wirelessly. He accessed his bank account online, and when he saw the amount there, he gasped out in shock.
"What?! ₩150 million?!" (TL: In dollars, around $133,000)
It was a sum with seven zeroes. He was thinking of a couple thousand bucks, so this amount completely shocked him.
"What the heck…. That woman, she said it"s from her allowance, so how come…."
Since he didn"t know how much Kim Hahn-Nah made in a month, or how much her combined a.s.set could be, perhaps it wasn"t that strange for him to react in this manner.
Seol Ji-Hu continued to look at the laptop"s monitor and not long after that, spotted the transaction history of Yu Seon-Hwah transferring ₩2 million. That sobered him up in an instant. (TL: around $1,766)
He did return the money on that day, but he had ‘borrowed" from her lots more besides that amount. When he checked the transaction history for the past three, four years, a bitter chuckle escaped from his mouth.
‘I gotta pay her back first."
It took him quite a bit of time to tally up every cent he owed, but he persevered and carried on.
‘Dad paid back around ₩28 million…. Mom, ₩16 million… Hyung lent me 2.2 mil… My younger sister, Jin-Heui, 600 thousand…. Ah, right. I stole her notebook and her car too, didn"t I?"
He had already sold that notebook at a flea market, and he left that car in a p.a.w.n shop near the casino. As the details of his past wrongdoings reared their ugly heads in his head, his guilty conscience swelled up uncontrollably. He might end up paying back more than necessary, but he didn"t want to ask anything from them in return.
He finalised the amount he took from Yu Seon-Hwah and got a nasty shock.
‘I, I borrowed this much from her?"
Even a casual calculation said it was around 46 million. He had no idea during the time when he was taking small bites here and there, but now that he finished tallying them up, the amount was no laughing matter at all.
‘Where would she even find that much money to being with…."
Seol Ji-Hu sighed. Suddenly, the amount of ₩150 million seemed rather inadequate. Of course, he wasn"t going to hold back here. After all, only by resolving all of his previous financial indiscretions, would he be able to properly move on and take the first step in his new life.
‘In any case, I don"t even have a phone or my bank card…."
If there was a silver lining here, then that would be him having only his phone and the lone bank card he frequently used on person that day. He managed to dig out his nearly-forgotten wallet from the corner of his room and put on his shoes, before taking his leave.
The first place he stopped by was the bank. He immediately got a new card to replace the lost one, and paid in full ₩30 million he borrowed from the money lenders. And then, he withdrew the rest of ₩120 million in cash. He got 24 bundles of ₩50 thousand bills, each bundle containing 100 notes.
He grabbed a taxi as soon as exiting the bank.
He had taken care of the most urgent fire first.
His pockets were full, too.
His next destination?
Obviously, it was the casino.
As soon as he arrived at the Seol-ark Land Casino, Seol Ji-Hu asked the security staff to ban him permanently from entering the premises.
Fearing that he might run into someone who recognised him there, he hurriedly stopped by the nearby p.a.w.n shop to recover the car. The interest had piled up pretty high, but he was happy enough to get the car back. His little sister used to go on and on about driving, so their father went and bought this car for her when she got admitted to a very famous university. It may not have been an expensive model, but it had a sentimental value.
Now that he had a car, he no longer needed a taxi. While driving back to the family home, he stopped by at a computer store and bought the latest, top-of-the-line notebook as well.
Seol Ji-Hu parked the car at an adequate-enough place, and he walked up to the front gate of the family"s house as his heart pounded away.
He saw the doorbell, but his hands didn"t want to rise up.
He briefly entertained the idea of leaving everything behind here and just leave before he was seen. He didn"t think about the possibility of this event happening, but now that he was here, he no longer felt confident enough to face his family.
He spent the next several dozen minutes in front of the house. His hands repeatedly rose up to the bell before falling back down again. In the end, though, Seol Ji-Hu took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Maybe his knocking was too soft, because there was no reaction.
‘Maybe no one"s home?"
He swallowed his saliva and slowly keyed in the door code. He then heard the gate unlock.
He cautiously stepped inside the building, but then, he had to come to an abrupt stop. A man wearing a pair of gla.s.ses stood on the stairs to the second floor and was looking back at him with an unfriendly expression on his face.
"H, hyung." (Seol Ji-Hu)
He was Seol Woo-Seok, his older brother.
"Y, you haven"t left for work yet….?" (Seol Ji-Hu)
"………."
Seol Woo-Seok glared at him, before silently turning around and went back upstairs.
Slam!!
Soon, the sound of a door slamming shut that was loud enough to make Seol Ji-Hu flinch, resounded out.
‘….But, of course."
His expectations took a knock just now, but then again, he was in no position to expect anything else to begin with. He still wanted to apologise, though. He figured that it"d be for the best to finish his thing and leave as soon as possible.
He placed an envelope filled with money in front of Seol Woo-Seok"s room, and then headed straight to his little sister"s room.
He found Seol Jin-Heui sound asleep on her bed wearing nothing but a sleeveless s.h.i.+rt and an underwear. She was drooling, too.
‘Yeah, skipping Monday morning lectures was an important ritual for her, wasn"t it."
Regardless, she possessed keen senses. So, he very carefully pulled the sheets to cover her up, then placed the notebook on her desk. He pulled out the car keys and ₩5 million and tucked them inside her handbag, too. And just as he was about to creep out of her room….
"Hey, you." (Jin-Heui)
Her voice still sounded sleepy, but at the same time, it was also definitely not friendly.
"What do you want?" (Jin-Heui)
Accompanied by the sounds of fabric rustling, Seol Jin-Heui kicked the sheets and got up. Seol Ji-Hu flinched slightly.
"Y, you were awake?" (Seol Ji-Hu)
"I said, what do you want? How dare you enter someone"s room without permission?" (Jin-Heui)
She stepped away from the bed and strode towards him, before her eyes fell on her desk.
"I was wondering what the h.e.l.l you were doing…. You came here to give me this?" (Jin-Heui)
"Uh? Uh, yeah." (Seol Ji-Hu)
Seol Jin-Heui began frowning as if seeing his face made her nauseous.
"Stop making me laugh." (Jin-Heui)
She suddenly grabbed the notebook and threw it away hard. It landed on the ground with a loud thud and bounced around.
"Take it and get lost." (Jin-Heui)
"W, wait. Jin-Heui-ah…" (Seol Ji-Hu)
"Jin-Heui-ah, my foot. I don"t care, so get the h.e.l.l out of here, right now!!" (Jin-Heui)
She stomped in closer to Seol Ji-Hu and angrily pushed him. He wasn"t planning to resist her to begin with, so he backpedalled several times before landing hard on his b.u.t.t.
Not even bothering to see if he was hurt or not, she snorted derisively and picked up her handbag.
"What a f*cking laughable man you are. What"s the matter? Did you win some money in that casino or something? Why would a d*mn thief like you think about his little sister out of the blue?" (Jin-Heui)
Her expression remained mocking as she took a look inside, and then…
She saw the bundle of notes amounting to ₩5 million as well as the car keys, and she c.o.c.ked up an eyebrow. She blinked a couple of times, and then, lifted her head.
"Big brother?" (Jin-Heui)
She wasn"t speaking to Seol Ji-Hu.
Before anyone had noticed it, Seol Woo-Seok was entering the room. With an envelop in his hand.
He was worried that Seol Ji-Hu might cause a problem and quickly came here, but upon encountering a situation that could be described as the total opposite to what he was worried about, all he could do was to alternate his gaze between his siblings.
"….What is this?" (Seol Woo-Seok)
His voice sounded hard, firm. He threw the envelope on the floor, causing the bills inside to spill out. Seol Jin-Heui"s eyes opened up wider.
"What, what the h.e.l.l?! How much is this?" (Jin-Heui)
She began counting, then her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
"50 mil…" (Jin-Heui)
And then, she looked back into the handbag.
"55 million?!" (Jin-Heui)
There was the car keys, too. And the notebook, as well.
"Hi-ya~. You really hit jackpot, didn"t you?" (Jin-Heui)
"Jin-Heui-ah. Return everything back to him." (Seol Woo-Seok)
When Seol Woo-Seok spoke in a cold tone, Seol Jin-Heui shot a glare at him.
"Why? Are you mad?" (Jin-Heui)
"It"s obvious. He got this money through gambling." (Seol Woo-Seok)
"It"s still money, isn"t it? No! I won"t give it back!" (Jin-Heui)
Seol Woo-Seok reached out to s.n.a.t.c.h the cash away from her grasp, but she yanked away the handbag and the envelope with money in it, before shoving them both underneath her clothes to hug them tightly.
"Seol Jin-Heui!!" (Seol Woo-Seok)
"What?!" (Jin-Heui)
"You really want that dirty money?" (Seol Woo-Seok)
"Dirty or not, this money rightly belongs to this family! It belongs to us in the first place, don"t you get that? Don"t you know how much dad and mom are struggling nowadays?" (Jin-Heui)
When the two Seol siblings" emotions began running high, Seol Ji-Hu hurriedly intervened and separated them apart. He didn"t come here to watch them fight. He at least needed to resolve this misunderstanding before doing anything else.
"Hyung, Jin-Heui-ah, You guys got it wrong. I didn"t get that money through gambling." (Seol Ji-Hu)
Seol Jin-Heui stopped arguing with her oldest brother, and spun her head to face him.
"F*ck off." (Jin-Heui)
She snorted as if the whole notion genuinely made her laugh.
"If you were planning to lie, then make it more convincing, okay? Ah, maybe you stole this? Did you rob a bank or something?" (Jin-Heui)
"I"m telling you the truth." (Seol Ji-Hu)
Seol Ji-Hu pleaded with a frustrated expression on his face.
"I stopped gambling. I"ve already asked the casino to ban me from entering the place. And the money"s from a commission… No, it"s from the work I did." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"You stopped gambling?" (Jin-Heui)
"A lifetime ban from entering the casino?" (Seol Woo-Seok)
Seol Woo-Seok and Seol Jin-Heui asked at the same time.
"I stopped gambling about a month ago. And today, I came here straight after asking Seok-ark Land to permanently ban me from stepping foot in that place. Please believe me." (Seol Ji-Hu)
Seol Ji-Hu explained as clearly as he could. However, it wasn"t the issue of them not understanding him, but rather, everything to do with trust.
"So, what you"re saying is, you stopped gambling, you voluntarily asked to be permanently banned, and this money is legit, is that right?" (Seol Woo-Seok)
As if he found the idea just too unbelievable, Seol Woo-Seok asked again.
"Stop f*cking wasting my time, okay? You think I"ll fall for your lies again?" (Jin-Heui)
Seol Jin-Heui retorted derisively.
"Oh, so, when we begged you to get the entry ban, you didn"t even pretend to listen. And when we tried to do it for you instead, didn"t you throw an almighty tantrum? You expect us to believe you now?" (Jin-Heui)
"Jin-Heui-ah…." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"Hah? How dare you make that face in front of me?! What? You thought that, just because you brought home some money, I"d start fawning all over you or something? You thought I"d start calling you oppa again? Stop dreaming, you b*stard. This is this, and that is that. This money is something that belongs to this family to begin with!" (Jin-Heui)
Seol Woo-Seok cut his little sister off there.
"….I"ll confirm it." (Woo-Seok)
His glare was full of suspicion as he switched on his smartphone. Three, four ringings later, Seol Woo-Seok opened his mouth.
"Is this the Seol-ark Land? Yes, yes. I"d like to ask for a person to be banned from entering your…. Ah, I"m his older brother. His name is Seol Ji-Hu…. Come again?" (Woo-Seok)
Seol Woo-Seok"s voice became progressively louder.
"He asked to be permanently banned? Today? He himself did?" (Woo-Seok)
Seol Jin-Heui quietly listened from the side and became dazed herself.
"In, in that case, is it possible to find out when was the last time he entered your…. Yes, the last time…. It was the sixteenth of March?!" (Woo-Seok)
A short while later, Seol Woo-Seok hung up. Seol Jin-Heui"s att.i.tude had softened a tad, but she still continued to glare at Seol Ji-Hu.
Seol Woo-Seok spoke up as if he was still unconvinced.
"….I still can"t believe this." (Woo-Seok)
"Hyung. Really, I…." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"No, wait. Fine. Let"s say you were telling the truth. Then, just where did you get this money from?" (Woo-Seok)
"Uh? That, that"s from…." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"I heard that Seon-Hwah gave you 2 million a month ago." (Woo-Seok)
He knew about that? Seol Ji-Hu could only open and close his mouth, unable to say anything.
"I also heard that you returned everything later that night, too…. You had not a single coin to your name, so how can you earn this much money in a month without resorting to gambling? Not only that, you brought a notebook and the car keys, too." (Woo-Seok)
They were rather sharp and pointed questions. Even Seol Jin-Heui found it strange after hearing them.
"Wait, isn"t that the top gaming notebook? That"s incredibly expensive, too…." (Jin-Heui)
She began taking a closer look at the thrown notebook, and sure enough, her suspicion grew even stronger.
Seol Ji-Hu realised his mistake, then. Should he chalk this one to his desires getting the better of him? He remembered his little sister loved to play games, so he sh.e.l.led out over ₩3 million to buy the best gaming notebook found in the shop. How could he have ever guessed that the d*mn thing would end up being a potential source of trouble?
‘What should I do now?" (Seol Ji-Hu)
In the end, he had no choice but to bluff his way out of this one. If he hesitated and wasted time here, they would start suspecting him with something else completely unrelated.
"That"s why I"m here today, to talk to you about what"s going on." (Seol Ji-Hu)
He carefully squeezed out each and every single word. If he just said whatever that came to his mind, they would latch onto the holes in his story pretty quickly. So, Seol Ji-Hu cautiously chose what he wanted to say.
"I was introduced to a job through a person I know. It pays quite well." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"Just what kind of work pays this much?" (Jin-Heui)
"Oh, that. I got lucky, that"s all. Something big happened and I received a large bonus." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"….Horse racing? Or sports betting?" (Woo-Seok)
"Hyung, no." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"If not, then lottery?" (Woo-Seok)
Seol Ji-Hu rubbed his face. He got to confirm one more time what his family thought about him. But, how could he blame them? He deserved it, after all.
"This money has nothing to do with gambling." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"You. Can you repeat everything you said in front of mom and dad?" (Woo-Seok)
Doing that was a part of Seol Ji-Hu"s original plan, but it had changed now. His hyung or his little sister might not be able to spot the fault in the story, but he could foresee his father asking many uncomfortable questions already.
"I"d like to do that, but I must be on my way." (Seol Ji-Hu)
"He"ll be home, soon." (Woo-Seok)
"It"s only because I"m really busy, you know? I was working outside the office today, that"s why I"m here. So, please, speak to dad about me. Please?" (Seol Ji-Hu)
"What do you want me to say to him?" (Woo-Seok)
"Very soon, I"ll be going out of town for a while. The duration could be as much as one, maybe over two months. You won"t be able to contact me during that time, but don"t worry about me." (Seol Ji-Hu)
He managed to explain, albeit just barely. Both hyung and his little sister still seemed confused, but there was no helping it. Seol Ji-Hu couldn"t tell them anything concrete even if he wanted to.
"I gotta go. I"m running behind schedule. I"ll come by next time to properly greet mom and dad." (Seol Ji-Hu)
Seol Ji-Hu forced out a smile and bade his goodbyes. He opened the door, climbed down the flight of stairs, and opened the front door.
But, until he closed the door….
Never mind trying to stop him, he couldn"t even hear them call out his name. Of course, he used the excuse of being busy, but still….
"………"
For some reason, he felt like all his vigour was leaving his body.
[You thought that just because you brought home some money, I"d start fawning all over you or something?] His sister"s words, spoken to him when his mind was in too much of chaos to hear her, finally landed their lethal blow.
As if they knew that he deserved the pain, the blow landed real hard and deep.
‘I wanted to…. apologise properly…." (Seol Ji-Hu)
He was too busy coming up with excuses that he couldn"t even get to say sorry once.
His first step didn"t work out as he wanted to, but he still had one more person to apologise to.
Seol"s head remained lowered as he trudged towards the nearest subway station.
His shoulders drooped powerlessly, too.
< 42.="" spilled="" milk="" (1)=""> Fin.